Edge beveler



Dec. 29, 1970 L. s. RAJNIK ETAL 3,550,322

EDGE BEVELER Filed Dec. 30, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 'f '1 72 ")l l 87 as I I3 3 22 24 3 "Elli ll lzlslllllfilll I] 27 I00 l 26 l I. i.. i I T w n F, INVENTORS.

Lawrence S. Rajnik Harris 6. Rodgers AGENT Dec. 29, 1970 L. s. RAJNIK ETAL 3,550,322

EDGE BEVELER 3 Sheets-Sheet 73 Filed Dec. 30, 196E W 6 3 ml IN VENTORS. Lawrence .S. Rajni/r Harris 6. Rodgers.

AGENT Dec. 29, 1970 L. s. RAJNIK ETAL 3,550,322

EDGE BEVELER Filed Dec. 30, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 4 Q INVENTORS.

Lawrence S. Rajnik Harris 6. Rodgers AGENT United States Patent 3,550,322 EDGE BEVELER Lawrence S. Rajnik and Harris G. Rodgers, Sr., Corning, N. assignors to Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 787,724 Int. Cl. B24b 9/12 US. C]. 51-89 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for beveling the borders of the edges or rims of the open ends of vessels such as rectangular or generally elliptical television picture tube funnel and viewing panel parts or the like. Such apparatus includes means for rotatably supporting said vessels, and at least one pair of first and second motor driven grinding wheels mounted on support members which are normally biased to cause the wheels to contact, at an angle thereto, the inner and outer borders, respectively, of a vessel supported on said support means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is oftentimes desired to bevel the inner and outer borders of the open ends of vessels having generally elliptical configurations. For example, the sealing edges of rectangular television picture tube funnel and viewing panel parts have relatively sharp borders which are susceptible to bruise checking and it is, therefore, desirable to bevel such borders to reduce the possibility of such checking to the extent possible. This is especially true for funnel and viewing panel parts for color television picture tubes since such tubes must be evacuated to a greater degree than similar parts for monochromatic television picture tubes. Furthermore, the viewing panels for color television picture tubes are subject to much more handling than are their counterparts for monochromatic picture tubes and are, therefore, subject to greater chances of bruise checking.

The manual beveling of the borders of the sealing edges of the television parts mentioned above is a time consuming and relatively expensive operation and, therefore, it has been found desirable to eliminate the hand grinding or beveling of said borders of said edges and to providea convenient means or apparatus for power grinding of such borders to reduce the time required for the grinding or beveling of said borders. The beveling apparatus herein disclosed was, therefore, developed for such purpose.

, BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In practicing the invention disclosed there is provided a vertical rotatable shaft having on the upper end thereof a plate member designed to fit into the interior of a generally elliptical vessel the borders of the rim of which are .to be beveled, a plurality of at least three longitudinal rollers having their axes of rotation extending normal to the axis of rotation of said shaft and being substantially equally spaced from and about said shaft below said plate member, the rim of the vessel whose borders are to be beveled being intended to rest on said rollers. Firstand second motor driven grinding wheels, of at least one' lp'air of such wheels, are mounted on the upper ends of associated support arms or members which are pivoted at their lower ends and which are normally biased in directions to cause said first and second wheels to contact the inner and outer borders of the edges or rims of the open ends of each vessel disposed on said rollers for beveling of said borders. Motor means are connected to the lower end of said shaft for driven rotation thereof and of said plate member and, through such plate member, driven rotatlon of each vessel disposed on said rollers for bevellng of the borders of the rim thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of part of the apparatus of FIG. 1 and taken generally along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 2 and taken generally along line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the apparatus embodying the invention.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the figures of the drawings.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown in FIG. 1, a platform 11 suported above a base plate 12 by suitable upright members 13 and 14. A center portion of upright member 13 is broken away to show the apparatus disposed between platform 11 and base plate 12. An upright hollow pillar 16 is secured as by screws such as 17 (FIG. 3) to the top of platform 11. Pillar 16 includes three outwardly extending and generally triangular supports such as 18 upon which are mounted U- shaped members such as 19 which support freely rotatable longitudinal rollers such as 21 (FIGS. 1 and 4).

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a hollow rotatable shaft 22 extends upwardly through the hollow 16a of pillar 16. A spur gear 23 (FIG. 1) is keyed in any convenient manner to shaft 22 adjacent the bottom end thereof and in a driving relationship with such shaft. The teeth of gear 23 mesh with the teeth of a pinion gear 24 which is keyed to the output shaft of a gear box 26 which is, in turn, connected to the output shaft of a motor 27 in a driven relationship therewith. The extreme lower end of shaft 22 is connected to a rotary union 28 to be discussed in detail hereinafter.

The lower end of shaft 22 (FIG. 3) extends snugly through the inner race 32 of a ball bearing 31 which is mounted within platform 11 by an annular member 34 which presses upwardly against the outer race 33 of bearing 31 and is held in such position by screws such as 36 extending upwardly into the bottom of pillar 16. Such arrangement will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art by a brief glance at FIG. 3 of the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, shaft 22 near its upper end, extends through the inner race 42 of a ball bearing 41 Whose outer race 43 is held in the upper end of column 16 by an annular member 44 which presses downwardly against said outer race 43 and is held in such position by screws such as 46 extending downwardly into the top of pillar 16. An annular member 47 surrounds shaft 22 above inner race 42 of bearing 41 and prevents vertical movement of shaft 22 within such inner race 42 as well as vertical movement of such shaft within inner race 32 of bearing 31 (FIG. 3). This arrangement will also be readily apparent to those skilled in the art by a 'brief glance at FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

There extends through the hollow 22a of shaft 22 a second hollow shaft 51 which has a smaller outer diameter than hollow 22a. Such arrangement provides a fluid passage between the inner wall of shaft 22 and the outer wall of shaft 51. The lower end of shaft 51 also connects to the previously mentioned rotary union 28 to be hereinafter further discussed. The upper end of shaft 51 is press fitted with an annular member 52 (FIG. 2)

which is secured to the top of shaft 22 by screws such as 53.

The upper end of shaft 22 is surrounded by a sleeve member 56 whose lower end fits snugly but slidably over such end of shaft 22 but which is keyed against rotation on such shaft by a screw 57 screwed into shaft 22 and extending outwardly into a vertical slot 5611 provided in the lower end of sleeve member 56. The upper part of sleeve member 56 has a larger inner diameter than the outer periphery of the part of shaft 22 surrounded by such upper part of sleeve member 56 and an annular space 58, surrounding the upper end of shaft 22, is thereby provided. Space 58 is closed at its upper end by the previously mentioned annular member 52 which fits snugly but slidably within such space. A cap member 61 is secured as by screws such as 62 to the upper part of sleeve member 56 and provides a closure for the upper end of hollow 51a in inner shaft 51. A radially extending passageway 59 extends from the hollow 22a in shaft 22 to said space 58 surrounding the upper end of shaft 22.

An annular spacer member 63 and a plate member 64 FIGS. 1, 2 and 4) surround the upper end of sleeve member 56 and are secured to such sleeve member by screws such as 66 which extend through the plate and spacer members and into the center flanged portion of sleeve member 56. Such center flanged portion of sleeve member 56 is slightly larger in diameter than the previously mentioned annular member 44 and a relatively thin cylindrical cover 67 is fastened to said flanged portion of sleeve member 56 by screws such as 68. Cover 67 has a height such that it covers the apparatus at the upper end of pillar 16 and shaft 22, that is, such that it covers the apparatus between supports 18 on pillar 16 and said center flanged portion of sleeve member 56. It will be noted that since said center flanged portion of sleeve 56 is of a slightly larger diameter than annular member 44 and the upper end of pillar 16, cover 67 is free to rotate along with said center flanged portion, and about such annular member and the upper end of pillar 16.

The previously mentioned plate member 64 has an outer periphery corresponding in shape to the open end of a vessel such as the funnel part 70 of a television picture tube illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings and outlined by dot-dash lines in F'IG. 4 of the drawings. However, plate member 64 is of a smaller size than the open end of said funnel part 70 and fits in the interior of such part as illustrated in FIG. 1. This will also be further discussed hereinafter.

Referring further to FIGS. 1 and 4 of the drawings, there is shown first and second upright standards or supports 71 and 72 having flanged bottoms which are fastened to the top surface of platform 11 in any convenient manner, such as by welding for example. Such standards 71 and 72 extend upwardly into the open bottoms of rectangular or block-line members 73 and 74, respectively, which are pivoted to the upper ends of the respective standards 71 and 72 in any convenient manner so as to be pivotably movable to a limited extent about the centers of the ends of the block-like members. Such arrangement will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

An adjustable or removable Weight 77 is carried on one side of member 73 to normally bias the upper part of such member towards pillar 16 and the associated apparatus. Similarly an adjustable or removable weight 78 (FIG. 4) is carried on the opposite side of member 74 to normally bias the upper part of such member away from pillar 16 and the associated apparatus. The weights such as 77 and 78 are preferably removable so that they can be readily replaced with other similar but lighter or heavier weights if it is desired that the biasing forces be altered for reasons which will become apparent hereinafter.

A pressurized fluid actuated cylinder 79 (FIG. 1) is attached to the end of standard 71 with the free end of the piston rod 80 thereof extending towards a pendant barlike member 81 attached to the end of block-like pivotal member 73. Similarly, a pressurized fluid actuated cylinder 82 is attached to the end of standard 72 with the free end of its piston rod extending towards a pendant bar-like member 84 (FIG. 4) attached to the end of block-like pivotal member 74. Accordingly, the end of piston rod is actuated into and out of contact with member 81 accordingly as pressurized fluid is supplied to conduits 86 or 87, respectively, connected to cylinder 79. Similarly, the end of the piston rod of cylinder 82 is actuated into and out of contact with member 84 accordingly as pressurized fluid is supplied to conduits 88 or 89, respectively, connected to cylinder 82. The actuation of the piston rods of cylinders 79 and 82 cause the ends of such rods to contact the pendant members 81 and 84, respectively, supplies forces to such members which overcomes the biasing forces of the previously discussed weights such as 77 and 78 carried by members 73 and 74, respectively. The purpose of such arrangement will be discussed hereinafter in an operational example of the invention.

A first generally upwardly extending support arm 91, including a base or foot portion 91a, is mounted on the top of block-like member 73 in any convenient manner such as by welding such foot portion to the top of member 73. A second generally upwardly extending support arm 92, including a base or foot portion 92a, is mounted on the top of block-like member 74 in a similar manner. First and second pneumatic rotary motors 93 and 94 are clamped to the upper ends of arms 91 and 92, respectively, and such motors drive grinding wheels 95 and 96 carried on the ends of the respective motors. Pressurized aeriform fluid for driven rotation of motors 93 and 94 is supplied to such motors through conduits 97 and 98, respectively.

It will be noted that motor 93 is carried on the upper end of support arm 91 at an angle such that grinding wheel 95 contacts the outer border of the sealing edge of a funnel member such as 70 at an angle of approximately 45 degrees thereto. Similarly, motor 94 is carried on the upper end of support arm. 92 at an angle such that grinding wheel 96 contacts the inner border of the sealing edge of the funnel member such as 70 at an angle of approximately 45 degrees thereto. -It is also pointed out that grinding wheels 95 and 96 are preferably relatively long in comparison with their diameters and that such wheels contact the outer and inner borders of the sealing edge of a funnel part such as 70 at different points along the lengths of the wheels as the funnel member is rotated during a beveling operation, as described later.

It is expedient at this point in the description to point out that pressurized fluid conduits 100 and 101 are connected to the previously mentioned rotary union 2.8 (FIG. 1) to alternately supply pressurized fluid to hollows 22a and 51a in shafts 2-2 and 51, respectively (FIGS. 2 and 3) as hereinafter described. Rotary unions such as 28 are well known and such union may, for example, be a Deublin Rotating Union, Model 250A, which can be obtained from J. V. Tripoli & Company whose address is 1622 Fillmore Ave., Buffalo, NY.

It is further pointed out that there is provided 'a suitable source of electrical current for the energization of motor 27 shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings as well as a suitable source of pressurized fluid, such as compressed air, for the actuation of the pistons of cylinders 79 and 81, for the energization of rotary motors 93 and 94, and to be supplied to rotary union 28 for purposes hereinafter discussed. However, for purposes of simplification of the drawings, such sources of electrical current and pressurized fluid are not shown therein.

The structure of the apparatus of the invention having been described, a brief operational example thereof .will now be given.

Before the initiation of a beveling operation, pressurized aeriform fluid such as compressed air is supplied to conduit 101 which is connected to rotary union 28, while conduit 100, which is also connected to such rotary union, is connected to atmosphere. Such fluid enters hollow 51a in shaft 51 and exerts a force upwardly against cap member 61 (FIG. 2) which causes sleeve 56 to slide upwardly along the outer periphery of the upper end of shaft 22. As is obvious, plate member 64 and cover 67 are also moved upwardly at such time. Pressurized fluid is also supplied through conduits 86 and 8 8 to cylinders 79 and 82 while conduits 87 and 89 are connected to atmosphere. This causes the ends of the piston rods of cylinders 79 and 82 to contact pendant members 81 and 84 and move such members in a direction opposite to the biasing thereof provided by weights such as 77 and78. Arm 91 and its associated grinding wheel 95 are thereby moved outwardly away from the center of the aparatus, while arm 92 and its associated grinding wheel are moved inwardly towards the center of the apparatus.

A funnel part such as 70 is then disposed on plate member 64 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, and conduits 100 and 101 are connected to said pressurized fluid source and to atmosphere, respectively. Such pressurized fluid enters hollow 22a in shaft 22 and flows through passageway 59 at the upper end of such shaft and into space 58 to exert a force downwardly against sleeve member 56. Such sleeve member 56 and its associated apparatus, including plate member '64, then move downwardly until the sealing edge of the funnel part 70 rests on the rollers such as 21 as shown in FIG. 1. Conduits .87 and 89 connected to cylinders 79 and 82 are then connected to said pressurized fluid source, while conduits 86 and88 are connected to atmosphere. Weights 77 and 78 then cause support arms 91; and 92 to move towards the sealing edge of funnel wheels 95 and -96 contact the outer and inner borders, respectively, of such sealing edge.

Following the foregoing actuations, motor 27 is energized to rotationally drive, through gear box 26 and gears 24 and 23, shaft 22 and, thereby, sleeve member 56, plate member 64 and the funnel part such as 70 supported on the rollers such as 21. As is apparent funnel part 70 is rotated by plate member 64 disposed in the interior of the funnel member. At such time, pressurized fluid is supplied over conduits 97 and 98 to rotationally drive motors 93 and 94 and, thereby, grinding wheels 95 and 96, to bevel the borders of the sealing edge of the funnel part such as 70. When the desired bevel is obtained on the borders of the sealing edge of the funnel part 70, the supply of pressurized fluid to motors 93 and 94, and the supply of electric current to motor 27, is interrupted to terminate the beveling operation. Pressurized fluid is then again supplied to conduits '86 and 88 to actuate the grinding wheels out of contact with the borders of the sealing edge of funnel part 70, and pressurized fluid is again supplied through conduit 101, and thence through rotary union 28 to hollow 51a in shaft 51, to raise plate member 64 for removal of the funnel part 70 from the apparatus and for receipt of another funnel part for beveling of the borders of the sealing edge thereof.

It will be noted that as a funnel part such as 70 is rotated by plate member 64, the grinding wheels 95 and 96 are maintained against the outer and inner borders of the sealing edge of the funnel member by the bias force provided by the weights such as 77 and 78. This force can be varied, if desired, by adding more weights or by changing to lighter or heavier weights as previously mentioned. Also during the rotation of the funnel part, as the larger and smaller radii of the sealing edge of such part move past the grinding wheels, such wheels move away and towards the center of the apparatus so that the beveling operations of the borders of the sealing edge move along the length of such wheels and wear of the wheels is thereby substantialy evenly distributed along the length of each respective wheel.

The apparatus illustrated is designed to accommodate, within upper and lower limits, funnel parts of other sizes than that illustrated. The limiting factor is that the funnel parts must be of a size that have sealing edges that can be supported on the rollers such as 21. In accommodating funnel parts of a size other than that illustrated however, the plate member 64 must usually be changed to a corresponding size.

The invention has herein been illustrated and described in conjunction with the beveling of the borders of the sealing edges of funnel parts for television picture tubes. However, it will be understood that the apparatus can also be employed for beveling of the borders of the sealing edges of viewing panels for said tubes, as well as the borders of the rims or lips of other vessels having round or generally elliptical shapes of a suitable size.

Although there is herein shown and described only one form of apparatus embodying the invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for beveling the sealing edges or rims of rectangular television picture tube funnel or viewing panel parts, such apparatus comprising:

(A) means for rotatably supporting one of said parts with the sealing edge thereof depending, such means including,

(a) a vertical rotatable shaft having on its upper end a plate member having a peripheral shape generally corresponding to that defined by said sealing edge of said one of said parts and diametrically smaller than the inner border of such edge, and

(b) a plurality of at least three relatively long rollers substantially equally spaced about and from the axis of rotation of said shaft below said plate, the axes of rotation of such rollers each extending in the same horizontal plane normal to said axis of rotation of said shaft;

(B) a first motor driven grinding wheel supported on the upper end of a generally upwardly extending support arm, such arm being pivoted at its lower end and said grinding wheel being supported thereby so that the wheel is normally biased in a direction to contact, at an angle thereto, the outer border of the sealing edge of one of said parts when such part is supported by its sealing edge resting on said rollers; and

(C) a second motor driven grinding wheel supported on the upper end of another generally upwardly extending support arm, such arm being pivoted at its lower end and said second grinding wheel being supported thereby so that such second wheel is normally biased in a direction to contact, at an angle thereto, the inner border of the sealing edge of one of said parts when such part is supported by said sealing edge resting on said rollers.

2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 and in which said angles at which said first and second grinding wheels contact said outer and inner borders of said sealing edgeare approximately forty-five degree angles.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 and further including a motor means connected with said shaft in a rotary driving relationship therewith.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 and further including a motor means connected with said shaft in a rotary driving relationship therewith.

5. Apparatus for beveling the inner and outer borders of the rim of a vessel having a generally elliptical open end, such apparatus comprising:

(A) a driven rotatable shaft supporting on a first end thereof a plate member having an outer periphery generally corresponding in shape to a planar periphery of the hollow in said vessel;

(B) a plurality of at least three relatively long rollers substantially equally spaced from and about said shaft with their axes of rotation extending normal 8 to the axis of rotation of such shaft, such rollers also 8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 6 and in which being spaced from said first end of the shaft in a said angle is approximately a forty-five degree angle. direction towards the second end of the shaft; and (C) a pair of motor driven grinding Wheels supported References Cited on first ends of respectively associated longitudinal 5 UNITED STATES PA N S t gpp members: Such members g'p Y q at 1 9 505 4 77 S ll 51 5 e11" second ends and normally biased in directions to cause first and second ones of said pair of grinding 1816/94 7/1931 Putt 5188UX 2,344,371 3/1944 Shaw 51-88 wheels to contact, at an angle thereto, the inner and outer borders, respectively, of the rim of a hollow 10 LESTER M SWINGLE Primary Examiner vessel resting on said rollers in a driven relationship with said plate member. CL R 6. Apparatus in accordance With claim 5 and further 51 1 5 including motor means for rotating said shaft.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 and in which 15 said angle is approximately a forty-five degree angle. 

